I have been using UML for quite a while now. Unlike most people my main reason for using it is security. You can run a UML instance inside a chrooted env as an unpriviledged user which is a bonus because it’s still a grey area if people can break out of a UML instance over the wire and remain connected (correct me if I am wrong). Breaking out into a chroot (/) as a user with no privs would definitely add another barrier to entry (I am not saying it can’t be broke, just that the guy cracking it is on a differnt level from the normal script kiddie at least until it becomes common knowledge how to do it).
Of course using UML has a price. Its slow. The main problem with UML Is IO. It’s really crap with high IO applications like databases. I tried it with PostgreSQL and it was awfull. Too much context switching.
I had heard of Xen on the grapevine and decided to have a look at it to see if it would be any faster and I was pleasently suprised to find that it is as easy to install as a new kernel. It was at this point that I really kicked myself, Xen as it stands today (version 2.0.7) does not support SMP. So I would be losing a processor using it. Unfortunately this is not acceptable on the machine I am on so I decided to postpone my foray into Xen and stick with UML for the time being on this box or at least until Xen domain 0 can support an SMP machine.
I am however tempted to invest in a single proc machine and run Xen on it. I am confident that Xen does what it says on the tin and that performance gains are substantial over UML but I would rather run a vanilla machine on a dual proc than lose one of them.

Is a pain in the ass, or at least it was for me. I have been a die hard lilo fan for a fair while but I wanted to try Xen which meant I needed to use Grub. The biggest problem I had was not realizing that if your grub.conf file is missing then you need to boot manually from the grub command line. The command line is actually quite simple once you know the steps to boot your machine (If you get a VFS error you probably don’t have your file system built into your kernel, try again).
Not knowing how the hell

title blah
root (hd0,0)
kernel /vmlinuz-nnnnnn root=/dev/sda2

the bits in bold above related to each other I created 4 entries in
/boot/grub/grub.conf
and tried each in turn until I realized that
root (hd0,0) is the partition my /boot/*files* are on
and
root=/dev/sda2
is the actual root file system. Would it not have been simpler doing

I created identical partition tables on my two SATA disks or rather I made the/dev/sdb identical to /dev/sda because my current root file system resides in /dev/sda2 and /boot/ is on /dev/sda1
/dev/sda1 == 200MB /boot/
/deb/sda2 == 2GB /
/deb/sda2
/dev/sdb1
/deb/sdb2
/deb/sdb3
I then ran the following command.

I recently purchased a Dual Opteron HP Proliant and decided today to install Debian on it. The first problem is that there is no CD/DVD in it. I know I could have just ripped one out of another PC but I decided to do things a bit differently.
Basically I wanted to install Debian on the machine and the simplest way to do this if we are not allowed to use a CD is to use PXE and some ingenuity.
These are a rough set of steps I followed
apt-get install tftp-hpa and tftpd-hpa
You will also need a dhcp server and a resolver
apt-get install dnsmasq dhcpd
mkdir /tftpboot
grab The debian net insall bits
cp netboot.tar.gz /tftpboot/
cd /tftpboot/
tar -zxvf netboot.tar.gz
chown -R nobody:nogroup /tftpboot/*
edit /etc/xinetd.conf and add the following
service tftp
{
disable = no
socket_type = dgram
protocol = udp
wait = yes
user = root
server = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
server_args = -s /tftpboot
}
/etc/init.d/xinetd restart
add the following to /etc/dhcp3/dhcpd.conf
host box2 {
hardware ethernet 00:00:1a:19:4e:7c;
filename “pxelinux.0”;
fixed-address 192.168.1.10;
}
subnet 192.168.1.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.1.20 192.168.1.30;
}
add the following to /etc/dnsmasq.conf
interface=eth1
dhcp-host=00:00:1A:19:4E:7C,box2
For those using an iptables firewall
iptables -A OUTPUT -p udp -o eth1 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p udp -i eth1 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -p udp -i eth1 –dport 67:68 –sport 67:68 -j ACCEPT
iptables-A INPUT -p udp -i eth1 –dport 67:68 –sport 67:68 -j ACCEPT
iptables-A OUTPUT -p udp -o eth1 –dport 53 -j ACCEPT
iptables-A INPUT -p udp -i eth1 –sport 53 -j ACCEPT
Set the client machine to use network boot and restart it and hey presto a Debian installer. I chose linux26 at this point because I am using SATA disks with an Adaptec 1210SA controller.

I am not sure whether to believe this or not.
I found it on Micro Persuasion while hunting for more information for www.boozled.comWalken For President
Lets assume it ain’t a hoax.
1. He has no experience as a Governor.
— But he’s a professional actor.
— Remember Reagan (53 movies).
2. His parents were immigrants.
— Didn’t you know America was practically built by them.
3. How will we know when he ain’t acting.
— Ditto George and Co.
I really hope this ain’t a hoax. If not we might be in for some razzmatazz in 2008.
Now all we need is Arnold Schwarzenegger running for President as well.